Today marks another anniversary of the solemn consecration of the world to Divine Mercy, carried out by Pope Saint John Paul II on August 17, 2002 in Poland.
The consecration took place after also consecrating the World Shrine of Divine Mercy in the town of Lagiewniki, on the outskirts of Krakow.
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The place is very close to the convent where Saint Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of Divine Mercy, to whom Jesus entrusted the spread of this devotion and the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, died.
Consecration to Divine Mercy
In the homily Of the Mass that he presided on that August 17, 2002, John Paul II said that he made the consecration “with the ardent desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through Saint Faustina, reach all the inhabitants of the land and fill your heart with hope.”
“Hopefully the firm promise of the Lord Jesus will be fulfilled: from here must come ‘the spark that will prepare the world for his last coming,’” the pilgrim Pope then highlighted.
The pilgrim Pope also highlighted that “it is necessary to transmit this fire of mercy to the world. In the mercy of God the world will find peace, and man, happiness.”
“I entrust this task to you, dear brothers and sisters, to the Church that is in Krakow and in Poland, and to all the devotees of divine Mercy who come from Poland and from the entire world. Be witnesses of mercy! “He encouraged.
personal conviction
Father Mauro Carlorosi, Argentine priest of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri and specialist in Divine Mercy, told ACI Prensa that in 2002 “the Polish Pope was urged to provide responses of Christian hope in the face of the advance of evil. Furthermore, Divine Mercy was in some way the personal mission of John Paul II.”
Karol Wojtyla visited the convent where Saint Faustina lived in 1938, only a few years after the nun’s death.
Being young, about 20 years old, Wojtyla “worked in the stone quarry near the convent to avoid being deported. As Archbishop of Krakow he began serious and scientific work in the study of the life of the saint and her spiritual diary, which resulted in the beginning of the cause of beatification and canonization of Sister Faustina.
John Paul II beatified Sister Faustina in May 1993 and declared her a saint on April 30, 2000, becoming “the first saint of the third millennium.”
On that same date, the Pope “announced that he had declared the Second Sunday of Easter as the Feast of Divine Mercy, in correspondence with what the Lord had asked of Sister Faustina,” the priest highlighted.
Father Carlorosi also highlighted that the second encyclical of his pontificate, Dives in Misericordia (Rich in mercy), “was inspired by the testimony and message of the Saint.”
In Collevalenza (Italy), three years after his election, John Paul II addressed a crowd of faithful with these words: “God, from the beginning of my pontificate, especially commissioned me to spread his mercy.” Some time later he commented that at the time of his death he would entrust himself to Divine Mercy and the Virgin Mary.
Therefore, Father Carlorosi stressed, “the consecration to the world was an act consistent with his thoughts and heart given to Divine Mercy as the main divine attribute, heart of the Gospel and foundation of the message transmitted by Saint Faustina.”
Prayer of consecration
The prayer of consecration, which millions of people now pray, is as follows:
God, merciful Father,
that you have revealed your love in your Son Jesus Christ
and you have poured it out on us in the Holy Spirit, Comforter,
Today we entrust to you the destiny of the world and of every man.
Bow down to us sinners;
heal our weakness;
defeat all evil; make all the inhabitants of the earth experience your mercy,
so that in You, one and triune God,
always find the source of hope.
Eternal Father, through the painful passion and resurrection of your Son,
have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Amen.
Originally published August 17, 2022. It has been updated for republication.
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.